Senior Digital Design Manager – Paid Media (All Genders)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Digital Design Manager – Paid Media

Company: zooplus SE

Location: Madrid, Spain

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Marketing Operations / Creative Operations / Performance Marketing Design

Date Posted: April 28, 2026

Experience Level: 5+ years

Remote Status: Hybrid (60% Office, 40% Remote)

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead creative performance across paid media channels, integrating conceptual creativity with operational leadership.

• Drive end-to-end creative delivery for META, Google Ads, Affiliate, and App campaigns, ensuring high-quality execution and brand consistency.

• Own and evolve creative automation setups, particularly within Smartly.io, to enhance efficiency, scalability, and creative quality.

• Implement structured planning, prioritization, and simplification of creative workflows to reduce complexity and boost operational maturity.

• Foster innovation by experimenting with new tools and AI, translating learnings into practical solutions for the team and stakeholders.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a 'Senior' manager, indicating a need for strategic thinking, proactive problem-solving, and the ability to influence cross-functional teams. The emphasis on "ownership," "structure," and "scalable impact" suggests a critical need for a candidate who can not only execute but also build and optimize processes within the creative and paid media domains. The explicit mention of Smartly.io points to a strong requirement for automation expertise.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Creative & Conceptual Ownership:

  • Lead conceptual development for paid media campaigns, from initial brief to final execution, ensuring alignment with brand and performance goals.
  • Proactively define creative directions, frameworks, and scalable solutions that translate performance insights into impactful creative concepts.
  • Act as a key creative decision-maker, confidently guiding stakeholders and ensuring brand consistency across diverse platforms, audiences, and markets.
  • Deliver high-quality design executions, encompassing ideation, asset creation, and final master asset development.

• Paid Media & Performance Design:

  • Manage the complete creative delivery lifecycle for META, Google Ads, Affiliate, and App campaigns, maintaining consistently high standards in both concept and execution.
  • Drive continuous improvement through rigorous A/B testing, iteration, and optimization based on detailed performance data analysis.
  • Anticipate future campaign needs, proactively preparing assets, templates, and innovative solutions to ensure timely and effective campaign launches.

• Creative Operations, Planning & Prioritization:

  • Ensure meticulous planning, effective prioritization, and logical structuring of all creative projects to meet deadlines and objectives.
  • Reduce workflow complexity by implementing simple, scalable processes and robust frameworks for creative asset management and delivery.
  • Guarantee that all deliverables are communicated clearly, consistently, and with a strong focus on achieving desired outcomes and business impact.

• Automation & Smartly.io Expertise:

  • Take full ownership of the creative automation setup within Smartly.io, driving its evolution and optimization.
  • Build and maintain modular Figma templates that are perfectly aligned with automation logic, ensuring seamless integration and efficiency.
  • Manage data feeds, conditional rules, and complex automation logic, potentially utilizing tools like Google Sheets for data manipulation and input.
  • Continuously improve efficiency, scalability, and the overall creative quality of paid media campaigns through strategic automation implementation.

• Innovation, Enablement & Collaboration:

  • Proactively identify and champion opportunities for innovation, including the integration of AI, new creative technologies, and process improvements.

  • Experiment with emerging tools and platforms, translating valuable learnings into practical, actionable solutions for the creative and marketing teams.

  • Collaborate closely with Paid Media specialists, Brand teams, and other cross-functional stakeholders to ensure cohesive campaign strategies and execution.

  • Provide clear, structured feedback and direction, fostering a collaborative environment built on confident communication and mutual understanding.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of creative direction, hands-on design execution, and rigorous operational management. The emphasis on "end-to-end creative delivery," "A/B testing," and "automation" indicates that this role requires a candidate who is not just a designer but a performance-driven operations specialist within the creative function. The inclusion of "anticipate campaign needs" and "prepare assets, templates, and solutions in advance" points to a strategic foresight requirement, typical of senior operations roles.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in digital design, paid media creative, or creative operations within a performance-driven marketing environment.

Required Skills:

• Conceptual Thinking & Design Execution: Strong portfolio demonstrating exceptional conceptual thinking, creative problem-solving, and high-quality design execution across various digital formats.

• Paid Media Expertise: Deep understanding of creative requirements and best practices for performance marketing channels (META, Google Ads, Affiliate, App Campaigns).

• Automation Platforms: Hands-on, advanced experience with creative automation platforms like Smartly.io or similar (e.g., Celtra, Adacado).

• Design Software Proficiency: Advanced skills in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects) and expert-level proficiency in Figma for collaborative design and template creation.

• Technical Familiarity: Knowledge of HTML5 ads and other performance-driven creative formats.

• Data-Driven Optimization: Experience in driving A/B testing, analyzing performance data, and iterating on creative assets to improve campaign effectiveness.

• Operations & Planning: Excellent planning, prioritization, and structuring skills to manage complex creative workflows and deliverables efficiently.

• Communication & Collaboration: Ability to simplify complex concepts, communicate clearly and confidently with stakeholders, and foster strong cross-functional working relationships.

• Ownership Mindset: A proactive, self-starter attitude with a strong sense of ownership, reliability, and comfort in addressing challenges directly.

• Language Proficiency: Fluent in English, both written and spoken, to effectively communicate within a multinational team.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with data feeds and conditional logic for dynamic creative optimization.

• Familiarity with AI tools and applications in creative design and automation.

• Understanding of e-commerce specific design challenges and opportunities.

📝 Enhancement Note: The qualifications emphasize a rare combination of creative talent and operational rigor. The requirement for "5+ years of experience in digital design, paid media, or creative operations" signals a need for seasoned professionals. The explicit requirement for "Smartly.io or similar automation platforms" and "advanced Adobe Creative Suite and strong Figma skills" are critical technical proficiencies. The "Ownership Traits" section underscores the importance of soft skills like proactivity, decision-making, and clarity in communication, which are paramount for senior operations roles.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Performance-Focused Case Studies: Showcase at least 2-3 detailed case studies demonstrating your involvement in paid media campaigns that achieved measurable performance improvements (e.g., increased CTR, lower CPA, higher conversion rates). Clearly articulate the brief, your creative/operational approach, the tools used (especially automation), and the quantifiable results.

• Automation Workflow Examples: Include examples of how you've utilized automation platforms (like Smartly.io) to scale creative production, personalize ads, or optimize campaign elements. Visuals of dynamic ad templates or explanations of automation logic are highly valuable.

• System Implementation & Optimization: Present evidence of designing or significantly improving creative workflows, templates, or systems that led to increased efficiency, reduced errors, or faster delivery times. This could involve Figma template structures or Smartly.io setup examples.

• Brand Adaptation Demonstrations: Show examples of how you’ve maintained brand consistency while adapting creative assets for different platforms, audiences, or campaign objectives, demonstrating strategic thinking in creative execution.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design & Optimization: Be prepared to discuss how you would map out and optimize the end-to-end creative process for paid media, from brief intake to asset delivery and performance analysis. Highlight your approach to identifying bottlenecks and implementing scalable solutions.

• Implementation & Automation Methods: Demonstrate your understanding of implementing creative automation strategies, including setting up feeds, defining rules, and integrating design tools with automation platforms.

• Measurement & Performance Analysis: Explain how you track and analyze the performance of creative assets, and how you use this data to inform future creative development and optimization efforts, particularly within automated systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role like this, a portfolio is not just a collection of work but a demonstration of operational capability. The emphasis on "performance," "automation," and "scalability" means candidates should select case studies that explicitly highlight these aspects. Simply showing good design is insufficient; the portfolio must prove the candidate's ability to drive business results through structured, efficient, and automated creative processes.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

Benefits:

• Hybrid Working Model: Benefit from a flexible hybrid work arrangement, spending 60% of your time in the office and 40% working remotely, promoting work-life balance.

• International Work Opportunity: Enjoy the flexibility to work abroad for up to 20 days per year in approved countries, fostering global collaboration and personal enrichment.

• Career Development: Access extensive development opportunities designed to help you shape your individual career path and acquire new skills.

• Comprehensive Training: Receive excellent training and ongoing support to enhance your professional capabilities and stay ahead in the industry.

• Wellbeing Programs: Participate in various wellbeing initiatives and offers designed to support your physical and mental health.

• Commuting Support: Benefit from subsidized transport options or bike leasing schemes to make your commute more convenient and sustainable.

• Employee Discount: Receive a generous 20% discount on all zooplus products, allowing you to enjoy the company's offerings.

Working Hours:

• Standard working hours are approximately 40 hours per week, with the flexibility offered by the hybrid work model.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimation based on typical compensation for senior-level marketing and design roles in Madrid, Spain, with specialized skills in paid media automation. Benefits are directly drawn from the provided "Additional Information" section, highlighting key perks relevant to operations professionals seeking balance and growth.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: E-commerce (Pet Supplies) - zooplus SE operates within the highly competitive and rapidly evolving pet e-commerce sector. This industry demands continuous innovation in customer experience, logistics, and digital marketing to maintain a strong market position. For operations roles, this translates to a need for agility, data-driven decision-making, and a constant focus on efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Company Size: zooplus SE is a large, established e-commerce player with a significant international presence, indicated by multiple offices across Europe. This size suggests a structured environment with established processes but also ample opportunities for impact and growth, as operational improvements can yield substantial results across a large customer base.

Founded: Founded over 25 years ago, zooplus SE has a long history and deep experience in the pet e-commerce market. This longevity indicates stability, a proven business model, and a culture that has evolved to embrace change and adapt to market dynamics, a key trait for thriving in operations.

Team Structure:

• Creative & Marketing Integration: The Senior Digital Design Manager likely sits within or works very closely with the Marketing department, specifically the Paid Media team. This close integration is crucial for aligning creative output with performance marketing objectives.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaboration is expected with Brand, Performance Marketing, and potentially Product teams. As a senior role, influencing and guiding these stakeholders will be a key aspect of the position.

• Operations within Creative: The role itself embodies an operational function within the creative domain, focusing on structure, efficiency, and scalability for creative production and delivery.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Creativity: The emphasis on performance marketing and A/B testing suggests a strong reliance on data to inform creative decisions and optimize campaign effectiveness.

• Process Optimization: A core part of the role involves defining, refining, and automating creative workflows to ensure efficiency, quality, and scalability.

• Agile Adaptation: The company's description of embracing change and challenges implies an agile approach to operations, requiring flexibility and a forward-thinking mindset.

Company Website: https://www.zooplus.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company context is crucial for an operations professional. Understanding zooplus's position as a large, established e-commerce player in the pet industry highlights the potential scale of impact and the need for robust, efficient, and data-driven operational strategies. The "power of plus" slogan suggests a culture of continuous improvement and added value, which aligns well with operations' goals.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is a "Senior Digital Design Manager," indicating a mid-to-senior level position. It signifies a move beyond individual contribution to include strategic oversight, process ownership, and leadership in a specialized area (creative operations for paid media). The role demands a blend of deep technical/creative expertise and strong operational management skills.

Reporting Structure: While not explicitly stated, a Senior Manager typically reports to a Director or Head of Marketing/Creative. They are expected to manage their own domain (paid media creative operations) and potentially lead or mentor junior team members in the future, depending on team growth.

Operations Impact: The primary impact of this role is on the efficiency, effectiveness, and scalability of creative production for paid media campaigns. By optimizing creative delivery and leveraging automation, this role directly contributes to improved marketing ROI, faster campaign deployment, enhanced brand consistency across large-scale campaigns, and ultimately, driving customer acquisition and engagement in the competitive e-commerce landscape.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Expansion: Potential to grow into a Head of Creative Operations or Director of Creative Production role, managing larger teams and broader creative functions.

• Specialization Deepening: Opportunity to become a recognized expert in creative automation and performance marketing design, potentially consulting for other departments or regions.

• Strategic Influence: As the role matures, there's scope to influence broader marketing strategy through data-backed insights on creative performance and optimization opportunities.

• Cross-Functional Mobility: Experience gained in optimizing workflows and managing complex projects can be transferable to other operational leadership roles within zooplus SE.

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations professionals, understanding the career trajectory is vital. This senior role offers a clear path from executing complex creative operations to strategic leadership within marketing and creative functions. The emphasis on automation and performance provides a strong foundation for future growth in areas like MarTech operations or digital transformation.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The company promotes a hybrid working model, indicating a modern office environment designed to support both focused individual work and collaborative team activities. The mention of spending 60% of time in the office suggests a commitment to in-person interaction for strategic discussions, team building, and knowledge sharing.

Office Location(s): The primary office for this role is in Madrid, Spain, located at Génova 17, 5plta, 28004. Madrid is a major European capital, offering excellent connectivity and a vibrant professional ecosystem.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Spaces: Expect office spaces equipped for team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and cross-functional workshops, facilitating the communication and feedback loops essential for creative operations.

• Technology & Tools: The environment will be equipped with the necessary technology and software, including advanced design tools (Adobe Creative Suite, Figma) and marketing automation platforms (Smartly.io), supporting efficient workflow execution.

• Team Interaction: The hybrid model balances individual focused work with opportunities for direct interaction with paid media specialists, brand managers, and other stakeholders, fostering a dynamic and communicative work culture.

Work Schedule:

• The standard work schedule is approximately 40 hours per week. The hybrid model (60% office, 40% remote) offers flexibility in structuring the work week, allowing for efficient time management between in-office collaboration and remote concentration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid work environment is a key aspect for many operations professionals who value flexibility while still benefiting from in-person collaboration. The context of a major European city like Madrid adds to the appeal, offering a dynamic professional and personal life balance.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A preliminary call with HR or a recruiter to assess basic qualifications, cultural fit, and salary expectations.

• Hiring Manager Interview: A detailed discussion with the hiring manager (likely Head of Paid Media or Creative Director) focusing on your experience, approach to paid media creative, automation expertise (Smartly.io), and operational management skills.

• Portfolio Review & Case Study: A dedicated session where you will present your portfolio, walking through 2-3 key case studies that demonstrate your conceptual thinking, performance marketing impact, and automation implementation. Be prepared to discuss your role, challenges, and quantifiable results.

• Cross-Functional Interview: An interview with key stakeholders from Paid Media, Brand, or other relevant departments to assess your collaboration style, communication skills, and ability to integrate creative operations with broader marketing strategies.

• Final Interview/Offer: Potentially a final interview with a senior leader, followed by a job offer.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Structure for Impact: Organize your portfolio logically, perhaps by channel or by type of impact (e.g., "Creative Automation Successes," "Performance-Driven Campaign Optimizations").

• Quantify Everything: For each case study, clearly state the objective, your specific contribution, the process/tools used (especially Smartly.io), and the measurable results (e.g., x% increase in CTR, y% reduction in CPA). Use data visualization where appropriate.

• Highlight Automation: Dedicate specific examples or a section to showcase your experience with Smartly.io or similar platforms. Explain the complexity of the automation you implemented and its impact on efficiency and scale.

• Demonstrate Problem-Solving: For each case study, articulate a challenge you faced and how you strategically approached and overcame it, showcasing your analytical and decision-making skills.

• Be Ready to Discuss: Prepare to answer in-depth questions about your design choices, your operational methodologies, and how you would approach specific challenges at zooplus.

Challenge Preparation:

• Creative Automation Task: You may be given a hypothetical scenario or a mini-brief to outline how you would set up a creative automation workflow in Smartly.io for a specific campaign type. Focus on the logic, asset structure, and potential optimizations.

• Process Improvement Scenario: Be prepared to discuss how you would improve a given creative operations process (e.g., brief intake, asset review, feedback loop) within a paid media context.

• Strategic Design Question: Expect questions about how you balance brand consistency with performance optimization in paid media, and how you leverage data to inform creative direction.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process for senior operations roles often involves a blend of technical assessment, strategic thinking demonstration, and portfolio review. Candidates should prepare to not only showcase their work but also articulate the strategic thinking and operational processes behind it, particularly concerning automation and performance metrics.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Smartly.io: This is a critical tool for this role. Proficiency in setting up, managing, and optimizing creative automation campaigns, including feed management, conditional logic, and template creation, is essential.

• Figma: Advanced skills are required for building modular, scalable design templates that integrate seamlessly with automation platforms like Smartly.io. Collaboration features within Figma will also be key.

• Adobe Creative Suite: Expert proficiency in Photoshop and Illustrator for asset creation and manipulation. After Effects or similar motion graphics tools may be beneficial for dynamic ad formats.

• Google Sheets/Excel: Likely used for managing data feeds, basic reporting, and potentially for defining automation rules or logic that feeds into Smartly.io.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Platform Analytics: Deep familiarity with the analytics dashboards within META Ads Manager and Google Ads to interpret campaign performance data and inform creative optimization.

• Internal BI Tools: Potential exposure to zooplus's internal business intelligence or reporting tools for broader campaign performance analysis and cross-channel insights.

• Data Visualization Tools: Experience with tools like Tableau, Power BI, or Looker (if used by zooplus) for creating dashboards and presenting performance insights.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot): While not a primary focus, understanding how paid media creative influences customer journeys within a CRM context is beneficial.

• Ad Servers (e.g., Campaign Manager 360): Familiarity with ad serving technologies for tracking and reporting.

• Project Management Tools (e.g., Asana, Jira, Trello): Essential for managing creative workflows, task prioritization, and team collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack is heavily weighted towards MarTech and creative production tools. The explicit mention of Smartly.io and Figma highlights these as non-negotiable technical requirements. Candidates should be prepared to discuss their practical experience and strategic application of these tools in driving performance and efficiency.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Ownership & Proactivity: A strong emphasis on taking personal responsibility for outcomes, anticipating needs, and driving initiatives forward without constant supervision. This means being accountable for the success of paid media creative performance.

• Structure & Clarity: A commitment to bringing order to complexity, simplifying workflows, and communicating with precision. This ensures that processes are understandable, repeatable, and efficient.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: A core principle is using performance data to inform creative strategy, optimization efforts, and strategic choices, moving beyond subjective preferences to objective impact.

• Continuous Improvement & Growth: A culture that encourages experimentation, learning from both successes and failures, and a proactive approach to skill development and process enhancement.

• Collaboration & Communication: Valuing open, honest, and constructive communication across teams to achieve shared goals, ensuring that creative efforts are aligned with broader business objectives.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Expect a collaborative style where the Senior Digital Design Manager works closely with Paid Media specialists, Brand teams, and potentially other marketing functions to ensure creative assets effectively serve campaign goals.

• Feedback Loops: A culture that encourages constructive feedback, both giving and receiving, to refine creative output and optimize operational processes.

• Knowledge Sharing: Opportunities to share best practices, learnings from automation experiments, and insights from performance data with the wider team to foster collective growth.

📝 Enhancement Note: Understanding the company's values and collaboration style is crucial for operations professionals, as these directly influence how work gets done and how success is measured. The emphasis on "ownership," "structure," and "data-driven" aligns perfectly with core operations principles.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Creativity with Performance: The ongoing challenge of ensuring creative output is both brand-aligned and strategically optimized for performance marketing channels, requiring a nuanced approach to design and execution.

• Scaling Creative Efficiently: Meeting the high demand for diverse, personalized creative assets across multiple paid media platforms while maintaining quality and speed. This is where automation expertise is key.

• Navigating Evolving Platforms: Keeping pace with rapid changes in paid media platform algorithms, creative formats, and automation capabilities to ensure strategies remain effective.

• Stakeholder Alignment: Effectively managing expectations and ensuring buy-in from various stakeholders with potentially different priorities (e.g., brand vs. performance).

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Automation Specialization: Deepening expertise in creative automation platforms and exploring advanced functionalities and integrations.

• AI in Creative Operations: Opportunities to research, experiment with, and implement AI-driven tools and workflows for creative ideation, production, and optimization.

• Strategic Marketing Insights: Gaining a deeper understanding of broader e-commerce marketing strategies and how creative operations contribute to overall business growth.

• Leadership Development: Potential to take on more strategic oversight, mentor junior team members, and contribute to departmental strategy.

📝 Enhancement Note: Identifying potential challenges allows candidates to prepare their responses during interviews, framing them as opportunities for problem-solving and skill demonstration. The growth opportunities highlight the potential for career advancement and skill enhancement within the operations and marketing technology space.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your process for translating a paid media brief into a scalable creative concept and automation strategy. Walk me through a specific example." (Focus on your structured approach, tool usage, and outcome.)

• "How do you balance maintaining brand consistency with the need for aggressive performance optimization in paid media creative? Provide examples." (Highlight your understanding of brand guidelines and data-driven iteration.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "How do you see your role contributing to zooplus's mission of making over 12 million customers happier?" (Connect your operational efficiencies and creative impact to customer satisfaction and business goals.)

• "Describe a time you had to simplify a complex workflow or process for a creative team. What was your approach, and what was the result?" (Showcase your ability to bring structure and clarity.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Start with Impact: Begin each case study with the core problem or objective and the key results achieved.

• Detail the Process: Clearly explain your specific role, the steps you took, the tools and methodologies employed (especially Smartly.io and Figma), and any challenges overcome.

• Quantify Results: Use numbers and data points to demonstrate the tangible impact of your work (e.g., ROI, CPA reduction, engagement increase).

• Showcase Automation: For relevant projects, explicitly demonstrate how automation was used to scale, personalize, or optimize creative delivery.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about your design decisions, technical implementation, and strategic rationale.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparing for specific types of questions, especially those that require strategic thinking and the demonstration of operational methodologies, is key for senior roles. Candidates should tailor their answers to zooplus's context and the specific requirements of the role.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Digital Design Manager – Paid Media position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on SmartRecruiters.

• Portfolio Customization: Ensure your portfolio prominently features case studies showcasing your experience in paid media creative, particularly those demonstrating strong conceptual thinking, performance optimization, and significant use of automation platforms like Smartly.io. Quantify results wherever possible.

• Resume Optimization: Tailor your resume to highlight keywords such as "Paid Media," "Digital Design," "Creative Operations," "Smartly.io," "Figma," "Performance Marketing," "Automation," and "A/B Testing." Clearly articulate your years of experience and key achievements in these areas.

• Interview Preparation: Practice discussing your portfolio case studies, focusing on your strategic approach, operational processes, and quantifiable outcomes. Prepare to answer scenario-based questions related to creative automation and performance optimization.

• Company Research: Familiarize yourself with zooplus SE's brand, its position in the pet e-commerce market, and its company values. Understand their "power of plus" philosophy and how your role contributes to customer happiness and business growth.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.